READERS of this column will be aware of the existence of eight ‘Blue Hen’ mares, the only broodmares to have produced four or more individual Group or Grade 1 winners. This elite coterie could soon be increased in size, and the hot favourite to do so must be the Storm Cat (Storm Bird) mare You’resothrilling.

Gaining both of her juvenile victories in blacktype races, the Group 2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket and the Group 3 Swordlestown Stud Naas Sprint Stakes, You’resothrilling joined her six-time Group 1 winner and champion sire full-brother Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat) and became a second stakes winner for her dam Mariah’s Storm (Rahy).

Not far off Grade 1 class herself, running third in the Spinster Stakes at that level, Mariah’s Storm was a tough mare who won 10 times at up to Grade 2 level, and all but two of her victories were in stakes races. She bred a total of eight winners, and while just a quarter of them won at stakes level, the other six were stakes-placed.

One of Mariah’s Storm’s non-winning offspring was Pearling (Storm Cat), and this own-sister to You’resothrilling made up for only being placed by breeding the multiple Group1 winner and now successful first season sire Decorated Knight (Galileo), who stands at the Irish National Stud.

Another daughter is the unraced Love Me Only (Sadler’s Wells), and she is dam of the Group 2 winner and classic-placed Storm The Stars (Sea The Stars).

No match

Meritorious as all of these achievements have been, they cannot match the stud record of You’resothrilling.

Mated with no other sire except Galileo, she has a record at stud that is incomparable with any mare currently producing. Her first seven foals have yielded seven runners, seven winners, seven stakes performer, six stakes winners and three Group 1 winners.

Three more of her offspring have been placed at Group or Grade 1 level, and the odd one out is most certainly a Group 1 performer in waiting. Joan Of Arc (Galileo) won the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial at the weekend, and next weekend she holds an entry in the Group 1 Tattersalls 1000 Guineas at the Curragh.

The best-known of the three Group 1 winners from You’resothrilling is Gleneagles (Galileo), now at stud at Coolmore. This dual classic winner, Group 1 winning juvenile and hero of the St James’s Palace Stakes is represented by first-crop four-year-olds this year. That crop contains nine stakes winners, three at Group 2 level. He has 11 stakes winners in all.

Perfect start

You’resothrilling made the best possible start at stud when her daughter Marvellous gained her only stakes form as she ran out a three-length winner of the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas on her third start. Now at stud, her second foal is Fort Myers (War Front), a listed winner at two and group-placed.

Two Group 1 winners with her first two foals was a perfect start, and it was a measure of the respect in which she was held that her third produce was named Coolmore (Galileo). She was a Group 3 winner at two but failed to do better, being sent to the USA in search of that elusive top-level win. She was placed in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks.

Taj Mahal (Galileo) failed to win at stakes level in Ireland but he came close to a Grade 1 win in the USA, chasing home Oscar Performance in the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington. He later won a pair of Group 2 races in Australia and is now at stud in France.

Group 1 double

Normal service was resumed when, in 2017, Happily (Galileo) won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and doubled her tally at that level when adding the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. She was twice placed at classic-level and has now embarked on her second career as a broodmare at Coolmore.

The only runner to date for You’resothrilling not to win a stakes race is the four-year-old Vatican City (Galileo). This Dundalk maiden winner produced a career-best performance when he chased home Siskin in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas last year.

You’resothrilling would have very few real rivals in a competition for the best current broodmare at stud. Should she become the ninth coveted ‘Blue Hen’, she would be a deserving member of an elite group.